Margaret Brown and 'The Great Invisible' get warm reception in hometown premiere

"The Great Invisible," Mobile native Margaret Brown's documentary on the Deepwater Horizon disaster, can provoke some heavy emotions. Sorrow, anger, guilt and dread come easily as the catastrophe unfolds again on the screen and its human cost is counted.

But as the film received its first Mobile screening Thursday night at the Mobile Saenger Theatre, it was gratitude that dominated.

Brown herself expressed it at the beginning. "Thank you for coming," she told an audience of several hundred people before the screening. "It's really exciting to show this here."

After the credits had rolled, the audience returned it in the form of a standing ovation. Brown shared the applause with a number of people featured in the film, starting with Roosevelt Harris, a volunteer relief worker in Bayou La Batre who figures prominently in Brown's narrative. Others onstage included Doug Brown and Stephen Stone, two rig workers who survived the explosion; their wives; and Keith Jones, the father of a man who died on the rig.

The Great Invisible ovation at the SaengerMargaret Brown and people featured in her Deepwater Horizon documentary "The Great Invisible" receive an ovation after the first Mobile screening of the film, Nov. 20, 2014, at the Mobile Saenger Theatre. (Lawrence Specker/lspecker@al.com)

In the question-and-answer session that followed, more than one person thanked the cast for baring their suffering for Brown's cameras. The closing note was sounded by Lori Bosarge, president of the South Bay Community Alliance, who spoke about what she sees as ongoing public health impacts of the oil and the dispersant used to clean it up. "Margaret, you did a wonderful job," she said.

The evening began with a reception for Brown at the History Museum of Mobile, where Brown mingled with family, friends and supporters. Among the crowd was local filmmaker Gideon C. Kennedy, who worked for Brown as a key assistant and researcher.

"I'm eager to see what's in the film," Kennedy said. Given the human, environmental, political and economic ramifications of the disaster, he said, the topic was so broad that it was "almost unfathomable." But, he added, "I can't think of a better person to tackle it." (Later, after the screening, he said Brown had achieved the film he'd been hoping for, and that he was particularly impressed by her ability to put a human face on the issues.)

As the film played, the director waited nervously in the Saenger foyer, trying to make some notes so she wouldn't forget to mention anyone in her post-screening remarks. She also kept an ear on the audience reaction, noting which moments drew responses and which didn't.

For example: In one scene, Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of a multi-billion dollar compensation fund, was shown speaking to a crowd of people about the claims process established by BP. Take the money, he urged them, "It's a gift." That assertion generated a ripple of scornful noise in the theater. Brown said the same thing had happened at an earlier screening at the New Orleans Film Festival. At that event, she said, she hadn't been prepared for the level of anger the film provoked.

During the Q&A session, she told the audience, "It plays really different here and in New Orleans than in other places. It hits different."

It definitely hits. The most somber moment of the night came when the cast was asked if they think it's likely another spill will come. It was clear that none of them felt the lesson of Deepwater Horizon had been learned.

"It's more than likely going to happen again," said Doug Brown.

"There is no balance," said Jones, answering a follow-up question. "There's never been a balance. There'll never be a balance. It's tragic."

There also were notes of affirmation amid the gloom. Bosarge, for example, specifically praised Brown for giving so much attention to coastal communities like Bayou La Batre and Coden, validating the hardships of people whose livelihoods were tied to the seafood industry.

And it was a particularly big night for Harris, whose plainspoken commentary about the impact of the crisis in those same communities makes him a central character in Brown's narrative. The screening was his first chance to see himself in the finished work.

Afterward, asked how he felt about being a star, he said, "I'll tell you what - I love it." Then he promptly added that it wasn't about him, that he was just happy the film draws attention to the people he serves.